India unmasked: 6 out of 10 Indians are not following safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic

It's been more than six months since the Coronavirus pandemic took the entire world hostage. By now we are aware of the safety measures that has been put in place — social distancing, wearing masks, washing and sanitising hands and many more. But are we following them? A survey by not-for-profit organisation EkDesh's ApnaMask initiative and research firm Crownit found that even though 90 per cent of the people know about the safety measures, only 44 per cent of them follow these. The most common reason for not wearing a mask is breathing trouble. — 45 per cent of the respondents believed that they did not require a mask as long as social distancing was maintained.

While 90 per cent of respondents are aware of the safe practices only 44 per cent follow them properly. The key reason behind non-compliance emerged as ‘inconvenience’ or ‘discomfort’, said the study. A total of 50 per cent don’t wear masks because of breathing problems, while 45 per cent of the respondents believed that they did not require a mask as long as social distancing was maintained — 44 per cent don’t wear a mask as they find it uncomfortable. Another 44 per cent of respondents believed that masks do not help in preventing them from getting infected. Among those survey, 43 per cent of respondents and 49 per cent within the age-group of 26-35 years are not afraid of contracting the virus," found the study. While 70 per cent of the people wear a mask when they step out, only half of them wear it all the time.

Majority of the respondents are using a N95 mask, cloth mask or a surgical mask to cover their face, said the study. "However, compliance of mask usage and cleaning was not very strong — around 70 per cent wear a mask whenever they step out of the house. Only 1 out of 2 of them wear it all the time. Around 70 per cent ensure that nose and mouth both are covered — one out of four clean their mask only with water, and a similar proportion of people keep their mask in sunlight for cleansing," found the study. Breathing problems, and the assumption that social distancing is enough to have come out as the biggest reasons for not wearing masks, said the survey conducted across 15 metros and non-metro cities including Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.